Car rental strategy

I would not rent for the days that you will be in Dublin but would rent on the way out of Dublin. We picked up our rental at the airport. It was great to get to practice on major highways before heading on smaller country roads. I would pay for the upgrade to automatic.

First of all, spring for the extra cost and reserve a vehicle with automatic transmission. You don't need the extra fun factor of trying to manually shift with your left hand while trying to negotiate the learning curve of driving on the left for the first time.
Dublin airport will have a larger selection of cars and thus you'll have a better chance of reserving an automatic from one of the companies there.
It may sound counter intuitive, but I've found that starting our trips on the motorway leaving the airport helps me adjust better to the sight picture for left hand traffic - and we've done this about a dozen times. Would seem that starting on the N roads near Galway would be easier, but for me the dizzying array of left hand traffic circles getting in and out of town is a daunting challenge - even after I've gotten comfortable behind the wheel.
My advice for a first timer would be to collect your car at the airport and get the feel of it by taking a few laps around the parking lot before hitting the road. That, plus using the street map feature on Google Maps to preview your route, signage, turnoffs, etc. It always helps me - might be of benefit to you too.

totally agree with Robert and Sharon, taxi or bus into Dublin and then back to the airport to pick up your rental. Ditto on pay extra for the automatic. I have driven in Italy and Ireland is much more of a challenge due to the left side driving and the size of the rural roadways. The "interstates" or motorways are pretty much the same as they are in the US or down in Italy. Checking out a couple of roundabouts on street view is a great idea too!

My husband and I are traveling to Ireland in June and also renting a car. We have been watching several YouTube videos on driving in Ireland. They even have roundabout videos! As the passenger/navigator, I'm ready for the look right, turn left shout out! Good luck!

Thank you all. Very helpful

In addition to what Robert and Sharon recommended (& that I wholeheartedly agree with), I would advise you to rent a GPS.

Also seriously encourage backseat driving. My wife and I help each other often.....sometimes with vehemence needed :) "LEFT" !!!!! Also dont panic if you miss a turn or take the wrong turn......it's always easy to pull over, take your time and retrace your steps. Even on the tiny one lane ....two way country roads there will be a turnaround up ahead a bit.

Practice at the airport and then some time on the M roads gets you used to it pretty quickly.

First, get the smallest car you can get away with, and get all the auto insurance you can. Don’t let them give you a free upgrade to get out of giving you what you had booked, either. I called the NYC office of the Dan Dooley rental to book our cars originally, and then called back a week before our trip to verify that they would have what I had ordered. When we got back to the airport to swap the big minibus for the small sedan after four family members flew home, they tried for the upgrade to a small SUV, but I put my foot down and said no. They had a small sedan returned, just not ready for us yet, but we waited. It was worth the 30 minutes to get the smaller car on those narrow roads.

Second, if no one is hurt, enjoy any mishaps you have. Our minibus side-swiped a local’s car who had parked two feet off the curb, so it wasn’t our fault. After calling Dooley, we were only going to be out the 100€ deductible, so we relaxed, especially when the Garda showed up and he was really sweet and funny, even teaching us how to say swear words in an Irish accent.

Third, get a GPS, but don’t be afraid to override it if it wants to take you down a road you don’t feel comfortable on. In the sedan, the gps took me down this cowpath that was just wide enough for the small car, with hedges on both sides, no pullout to let oncoming cars past, and grass growing in the middle of the tarmac. I was terrified at first, expecting an approaching car, started to giggle halfway through, then laughing outright by the end of the ten minutes. Turns out I could have stayed on the bigger road until the next road and taken that one instead. But, no harm, no foul—I got a big laugh over the ridiculousness of the road and a great anecdote!

This is also our first trip to Ireland (end of May) and I was very glad to come across this thread. My husband and I are having heated debates about renting a car. My normally very adventurous guy has suddenly lost his gut. The left side of the road thing and then narrow roadways apparently seems very daunting to him. We did the Road to Hana on a Harley (for those of you familiar you'll understand) and other harrowing drives on the bike. I keep telling him if he could maneuver these drives he can manage this! Can anyone offer some words of encouragement that I can pass along to him? Or Top 10 Reasons Why NOT to do tour busses??? We are so not tour bus people-I'm taken aback that he is even considering that! HELP!

In my two trips to the UK and Ireland, I drove at last part of the way, and really had no problems. Yes, it was an adjustment to drive on the left side, but that sense of, “Oh, this is wrong!” goes away quickly. I love the roundabouts and now wish we had them here in the States. My biggest problem was keeping myself from hugging the left in fear of veering into the oncoming traffic’s lane—Mom kept telling me I was getting too close to the curb/ditch. Even my brother, who had never been to Europe, had few problems driving the big minibus with the manual transmission. He did get into the wrong lane in making a turn once, but he just swerved onto the shoulder until a spot opened up and he could get back over to the left side. I am sure local are used to seeing that from tourists. My sister was the one with the accident, but like I said, that was the local person’s fault and would have happened here in the States just as easily.

Just steer clear of driving in bigger cities until you are comfortable—don’t pick up the car at the airport then drive right into Dublin. In my first trip, I drove for a few days before we got to Edinburgh, and even then, the car stayed at the B&B on the outer edges of town.